This invention relates to protective apparel. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods that facilitate doffing of protective apparel including gloves.
Protective apparel is used in many environments that offer an undesirable chemical or biological agent. Medical practitioners frequently operate on a patient who carries a communicable disease. Recent worldwide outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) have required health care practitioners to interact with patients that are knowingly afflicted. Practitioners in medical environments such as this are prone to contamination from airborne, blood-borne and droplet-transmitted biological agents. Industrial and chemical environments also offer a variety of airborne, liquid and solid hazards.
Many individuals wear protective apparel to defend from an undesirable agent. Full body suits are common, as are open-bottom gowns that provide frontal coverage and include sleeves to protect the wearer's arms. Gloves, such as disposable latex gloves, are regularly worn with protective apparel. Some practitioners tape the disposable gloves to the apparel sleeves to maintain glove position during usage.
When doffing, conventional apparel users are susceptible to cross-contamination. Cross-contamination occurs when a contaminated part of the apparel contacts an unprotected portion of a person's skin or clothes. Sequential removal of separate apparel parts may lead to circumstances that pose cross-contamination risks. For example, doffing gloves commonly leads to removal and handling of a contaminated second glove by a bare hand. Subsequently, the cross-contaminated hand may be inadvertently used to rub an eye, nose or mouth. Cross-contamination during doffing significantly increases practitioner exposure to the undesirable agent.
Based on the foregoing, it should be apparent that alternative protective apparel and methods for doffing protective apparel would be desirable.